JD Power: GM Steals Toyota’s ‘Quality’ Crown for First Time

by Christopher Freeburn | June 20, 2013 10:44 am

JD Power: GM Steals Toyota’s ‘Quality’ Crown for First Time

[1]The rivalry between General Motors (GM[2]) and Toyota (TM[3]) continues to escalate[4].

In its survey of 2013 vehicles, J.D. Power & Associates has ranked GM ahead of Toyota in initial quality for the first time since it launched the survey almost three decades ago. All of GM’s American brands scored above average in the quality ranking, with GMC grabbing second place over all, eclipsing Lexus, Toyota’s luxury brand, ABC News notes.

Both GMC and Chevrolet placed higher on the rankings than Toyota, which came in eight among automotive brand. Chevy jumped to fifth place, up from fifteenth place last year. Meanwhile, Toyota edged up a notch from eighth place last year, to seventh in 2013.

The J.D. Power survey is based on surveys of 83,000 vehicle owners and lessees. Rankings among brands are determined by the lowest number of problems per 100 vehicles.

Here are the Top 10 Nameplate Initial Quality Survey rankings[5] from J.D. Power for 2013:

Porsche — owned by Volkswagen (VLKAY[6])

GMC

Lexus — owned by Toyota

Infiniti — owned by Nissan (NSANY[7])

Chevrolet

Acura — owned by Honda (HMC[8])

Toyota

Honda

Jaguar — owned by Tata Motors (TTA[9])

Hyundai (HYMLF[10])

General Motors was the world’s bestselling automaker for decades until 2008 when Toyota claimed the title. GM won it back in 2011, only to lose it again to Toyota last year. So far this year, Toyota has retained the title, outselling GM by a thin margin[11].